Error HD521-2W

METAL VIPER

Posted 19 November 2008 - 01:35 AM

METAL VIPER

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Alright, where to start...I'm pulling my hair out in frustration at my girlfriend's PC. It's an HP, not sure of the model, but running XP Media Center Edition. A few months ago, her icons and everything on the desktop disappeared after a few seconds. She could still access the internet via the keyboard, so she didn't care, and I hadn't had time to fiddle with it...until Sunday. I downloaded some programs for her, including CCleaner and AVG, because her anti-virus was out of date. I ran the CCleaner and pulled 12,812 mb of [bleep] off of it, but I received an error that had to do with boot or something; I don't really remember. When we restarted, it now runs a continuous loop of blue screen of death, restart, over and over. I can't get into windows or even safe mode. When running the PC Doctor by pressing f10, I got an error (HD521-2W) that says the hard drive is failing. I doubt that is the case, since this just happened after running CCleaner.

I'm not a big tech person, but I can at least keep [bleep] straight on my own PC. I've been googling about the problem and can't find a definitive answer. She doesn't have any physical disks, so does anyone know what the best course of action is here? At the least, I just need to get into Windows to get her pictures and documents off of there

Thank you so much. I want to throw the [bleep] computer into a wall and light it on fire...

Edited by METAL VIPER, 19 November 2008 - 01:36 AM.

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Neil Jones

Posted 19 November 2008 - 02:22 PM

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HD521-2W is a code generated by HP computers for a failed SMART short test . It is an indication that the drive may be on the way out. The fact you ran CCleaner before this happened is co-incidence, hard drives are mechanical devices and they wear out just like the clutch does on your car. Your blue screens may be related to the failing drive. If you hang the drive off another computer you should be able to get the data back off it.

METAL VIPER

Posted 19 November 2008 - 03:56 PM

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HD521-2W is a code generated by HP computers for a failed SMART short test . It is an indication that the drive may be on the way out. The fact you ran CCleaner before this happened is co-incidence, hard drives are mechanical devices and they wear out just like the clutch does on your car. Your blue screens may be related to the failing drive. If you hang the drive off another computer you should be able to get the data back off it.

I've been reading a lot about the error and it seems that some people are getting it even without a back hard drive. Here is one example Click What is the easiest way to get into a DOS environment so I can run CHKDSK? She can't find any disks relating to HP restore or Windows. Thanks again for any help.

Neil Jones

Posted 19 November 2008 - 04:51 PM

The post you link to refers to a short-circuit caused by a damaged front USB port. Damage like that usually ends up shorting the entire board out never mind generating SMART messages.

CHKDSK will not fix a drive that's mechanically defunct. Your best bet is to take the side of the case off and see what brand of drive you have, then go to their website for some hard drive diagnostic tools that will tell you whether the drive is any good. If the drive's defunct, the drive's defunct and you can't really do anything about it short of buying a new drive.

METAL VIPER

Posted 19 November 2008 - 04:55 PM

The post you link to refers to a short-circuit caused by a damaged front USB port. Damage like that usually ends up shorting the entire board out never mind generating SMART messages.

CHKDSK will not fix a drive that's mechanically defunct. Your best bet is to take the side of the case off and see what brand of drive you have, then go to their website for some hard drive diagnostic tools that will tell you whether the drive is any good. If the drive's defunct, the drive's defunct and you can't really do anything about it short of buying a new drive.

I can't get into an environment to run any diagnostic tools. All I'm interested in at this point is getting her documents and pictures off of there. Would the best bet be slaving it to another drive?

METAL VIPER

Posted 19 November 2008 - 05:09 PM

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Can I slave her drive to mine, even though she's running media center edition and I'm running XP Pro SP2? I'm completely new to any of this stuff, so any help on how to get the data off it much appreciated

METAL VIPER

Posted 20 November 2008 - 02:49 AM

Alan T Parent

Posted 09 June 2010 - 09:05 PM

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Okay,

The problem is in the motherboard primary SATA connector. It weakens with age due to high data transfre rates and then the plastic to pin inserts weakens to the point of momentary contact causing the failure of communication to the primary drive. Adding a secondary may work, however the primary is still OOC. The repair I found works is to move the primary SATA connection to the secondary SATA and then run CHKDSK /F to repair the disfigured sectors caused by the afformentioned action repairs the problem. It may require more than one repair try to correct, however the drive will return to full use with proper care. I believe this is a manufacturing defect in the original motherboard itself in a whole line of models rather than what I have read about the Hard Drive MFG's abuses I have read about. I have positive proof that these connections do fail ....

WarrenPeace

Posted 31 March 2011 - 08:49 AM

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I have a HP Pavilion model a6620f that has had a Hard Drive Failure HD521-2W once a year now for the 3 years I have owned it. I bought the "Best Buy" 3 year "Black Tie" protection and after replacing the drives twice under the plan (HP did the first replacement), I am now out of the plan with another HD521-2W error. HP denies any defects in their computer. The numbers don't add up. Should there be a recall? or was I the only unlucky isolated incident with this problem?